


laying the grounds (for these white walls)

by rhindon



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Gondolin, for now they're a study club, in ten years these weirdos will succeed, in the making
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:48:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29328066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhindon/pseuds/rhindon
Summary: Turgon has a Plan. The Gondolin squad is right at his back.They're building the Great Wizarding City, spell by excruciating spell.
Relationships: Ecthelion of the Fountain & Glorfindel, Glorfindel & Turgon of Gondolin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	laying the grounds (for these white walls)

"Look," said Turgon, and a collective groan rose around the room.

Turgon made a face. I sat up on the desk - we were in a long-unused classroom, and mine was the only one without a broken leg - and put my head in both hands. "Have you finally figured it out?" I asked, for the sake of myself and my two fellow prisoners. Egalmoth slumped on the spot I'd previously been lying upon. Ecthelion, bless his soul, was somehow still sitting up straight, and even paying attention to the board. I wasn't really sure if Ecthelion wasn't just indulging Turgon, though.

After all, we were as a whole a motley bunch, Turgon perhaps the oddest. Ickle little third-year rubbing shoulders with people nearly twice his height (and definitely twice his weight), was Turgon Noldoran, and rumor had it that he'd been the youngest kid in a hundred years to be allowed into the Restricted Section of the library. There was no doubt at all that the kid belonged in Ravenclaw, anyways. The whole 'study club' idea had been his. So had been finding the room we were in. Sunlight filtered in through the high windows, but otherwise, it was gloomy and even a bit dark, save for the board with lamps on either side. From its right, Turgon brushed off chalkdust from his fingers and glared at us.

It was a bit too early on Monday afternoon to be glared at by the kid.

Egalmoth, on the other hand, may have been shite at every subject but a couple of choice electives; but what he was good at, he excelled in. After several long moments, he raised his eyes and began to follow Turgon's logic across the board. I didn't even bother. The reasons for my attendance had never been academic, at least in the beginning (other reasons had cropped up later): because my cousin Elenwë had asked me to look after Turgon, I'd had nothing better to do, and hadn't been really sure about Ecthelion at first. Ecthelion, who'd apparently finished reviewing Turgon's cramped handwriting.

"I'm not sure if the Fidelius charm works like that," he said dubiously, and Egalmoth (a much faster reader) nodded along.

Turgon sighed.

"I do need to check that again. I suppose none of you are free this evening? For a little trip to the library?"

"Quidditch," said Ecthelion and I, at the same time. And then:

"I thought we'd reserved the pitch for tonight?" I asked, without much heat; Ecthelion was remarkably upfront for a Slytherin, and games had gotten much more interesting ever since we both made captain. On the other hand. . .

"Elemmakil and Voronwë have come up with a _plan_ ," Ecthelion said. His tone made it abundantly clear he would rather be stuck in a library with Turgon than listen to a couple of the most excitable second-years in the history of Hogwarts. I stifled an urge to laugh. To hell with the lauded Ravenclaw intelligence - nobody else could beat a pair of Slytherins for outrageous and unrealistic schemes, especially not when their own captain had decided to break the rules was _more trouble than it's worth, really, Glorfindel, I'm not an idiot._

Ecthelion was a Keeper, and I a Chaser; naturally we'd hated each other. Or, to be honest, I'd hated him, and he'd always regarded me with the sort of mild suspicion one might hold for a mangy mutt. I liked to think that after a year of Turgon's study club, we'd managed to reach some sort of détente, though. It was actually pretty fun to talk Quidditch with him, as long as we stayed out of the Gryffindor-Slytherin games. Besides, even if I'd never have admitted to it back in fifth-year, House rivalries had begun to seem paltry compared to Turgon's grand visions for the future.

With the exception of Galdor (who was in his last year and had rediscovered the existence of N.E.W.T.s just this month, leading to his absence today) and Turgon himself, we were all sixth-years with a reasonable amount of time on our hands. That was likely the reason Turgon had decided to recruit us, and as always, the decision had been a sound one.

Although none of us were sure of why he'd wanted to make this an inter-House thing, or what exactly he was even trying to do, we all knew he wanted a haven. An all-wizarding village, if you will, out of the oversight of the Ministry. In a strange way, we were honored that he'd chosen us. Turgon was a strange one at that. The pride of sixteen-year-old boys is far from easy to assuage, and yet we had no trouble following Turgon's lead.

We'd been talking about bringing some more people in, even. Egalmoth and I concurred that Duilin (Gryffindor, fifth-year, Seeker) was probably trustworthy and that Penlod (Ravenclaw, sixth-year, terribly rule-abiding prefect) wasn't so bad. Ecthelion was, for some unfathomable reason, rather fond of Salgant. We agreed to disagree on that. And though we figured Turgon might want to bring in Finrod, his cousin (Slytherin, third-year, talked to snakes and whatnot), Turgon was yet to say anything.

(It would be years before Rog came into the picture. But that, I suppose, is a story for another time.)

Anyways, what I mean to say is that a., Ecthelion was genuinely a nicer person than you'd expect from his House, b., we all loved Turgon, the unofficial leader of our little village-building (and -hiding) study club, and c., well.

It was only in that moment that I realized Ecthelion had sounded almost distracted, when he'd complained about his second-years. He was still staring at the board, and Turgon's work sprawled across it. I glanced at Egalmoth and found he was doing the same. Actually, Egalmoth looked positively _rapt_.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked, somewhat dumbly. Ecthelion glanced at me.

"You don't really understand a word of this, do you?" he murmured, not unkindly. I shrugged. Charms were never my forte; last month, when we were drawing up building plans and considering materials, I'd been a bit more of use. But Herbology and Potions were not, generally, an important part of construction or warding - which was what Turgon had been focusing on this month. A large-scale spell to hide an entire village, or something. Ecthelion and Egalmoth were much more involved than I was. Ecthelion and Egalmoth were, in fact, not really saying a lot right now.

"Will someone take pity on me?"

"If the Fidelius charm does fit in without a hitch," said Ecthelion, "then there's nothing more for us to do. The spell's complete."

"At least, in theory," added Turgon, who despite the apparent success had a pinched look about him. But Egalmoth stood up and went around to the board.

"The thing about the Fidelius Charm was always that it depended on the Secret-Keeper too much. The problem of secondaries. . ." and then Egalmoth, noticing that any technical term would go flying right over my head, suddenly shook his head and grinned. "This is basically a spell that creates several _Gates_ to the secret - six of them, if I'm reading this right - and requires one to be led through, by someone who already knows, in order to discover it."

"And the ability to open the Gates may be assigned or taken away at will, separate to knowing the secret itself," Ecthelion said, and fell into a thoughtful expression. "Your will, Turgon, I presume."

Turgon nodded. For a second there was an odd charge in the air between the two, and abruptly I was frightened. Far be it from me to grow afraid at the idea of a simple disagreement, but afraid I was, and for the tall, haughty sixth-year at that. And haughty he seemed to me, who before had always been almost too reserved for Slytherin. I frankly don't know just what I expected; surely it wouldn't have been a fistfight, or even an argument - not between these two. But whatever the charge was, it dissipated as soon as Ecthelion dropped his gaze.

"So," he said, "that's that done."

Ecthelion was, of course, correct. Turgon made a few adjustments to the board and put a Concealing Charm on it, we packed up our various books and snacks and other sundry items, and prepared to disperse. Whatever Turgon's endgame was, it was a long time away, and in the meantime we had classes and examinations, plus all the usual troubles of school. I forgot about the incident as soon as it happened. Egalmoth and Turgon began their trudge back towards the Ravenclaw Tower. As we turned into the opposite hallway, I took the opportunity to knock shoulders with Ecthelion.

"Big game this weekend," I said. "Think you can pull ahead?"

Gryffindor was in the lead for the House Cup by a mere twenty points, and I didn't exactly trust the Hufflepuffs to do well against Slytherin. Ecthelion gave an uncharacteristic scoff.

"Of course we will. All right, see you in Potions tomorrow. And don't forget your essay!"

And there we parted ways, at least for the day.

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've been meaning to write for a while, and might actually turn into a series. But in case I don't. . .
> 
> 1\. Fingon, fifth-year, is the Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He makes captain eventually. It's a bad couple of years for Slytherin.
> 
> 2\. Maglor recently learned (from Daeron) that the Beauxbatons have Music classes. _Music_. He's petitioning the Headmaster for a new professor and has so far managed to rope Finrod into it. Finrod says Ecthelion and Salgant seem vaguely curious about it. They're his next targets.
> 
> 3\. All the Finarfinians except Aegnor are Slytherins, because serpents. There's a surprising lack of Feanorians there.  
> 3-1. After graduating, Aegnor meets a whip-smart Muggle girl. For the moment, though, he's ten years old and can't wait to go to school.
> 
> 4\. Maedhros is taking his N.E.W.T.s this year as well. He hasn't decided what he wants to do. Feanor wants him to go into the Ministry, but recently there's been this new Undersecretary with some controversial ideas - what was his name again? Something starting with the letter M, he's sure.


End file.
